Carlos Rojas, right, a community organizer, lauds Union County's change of policy to no longer honor federal requests to hold immigrants without a warrant. Rojas had urged Union County Freeholder Mohamed Jalloh, left, to make the change.Tom Haydon/The Star-Ledger

ELIZABETH — Advocates for immigrants today applauded Union County officials for ending the practice of keeping people incarcerated solely on requests from federal authorities.

County officials earlier this month stopped honoring requests from U.S. Immigrant Customs and Enforcement (ICE) to keep people in jail without a warrant.

Previously, in Union County, like most other counties in New Jersey, immigrants who had completed a sentence or were able to make bail were still held for up to 48 hours, which provided officers from ICE with a better opportunity to take custody of the individuals.

County officials say they determined that additional detention was illegal, and they now will release people unless ICE obtains a warrant to hold them.

"Union County has taken a leadership role on this issue," said Chia-Chia Wang, advocacy director for the American Friends Service Committee in Newark.

"This is a controversial issue," Wang said, noting the swell of public opinion over immigration in the country.

Carlos Rojas, a community organizer for Faith in New Jersey, a private non-profit agency, first approached Union County Freeholder Mohamed Jalloh last May about changing the county's policy.

Jalloh said he contacted County Counsel Robert Barry, who after researching the law, found the county had no legal justification for holding immigrants at the request of the federal agency.

"This is rooted in a clear delineation of the law," said Jalloh, who is vice chairman of the freeholder board.

Rojas said Union County's shift in policy will impact immigrants and their families.

"Today we are changing people's lives," Rojas said.

He and others said the change is a step toward establishing trust between immigrants and law enforcement.

Pastor Ramon Collazo of the St. Elizabeth Lutheran Church in Elizabeth, said often immigrants avoid police and refuse to report crimes over fears that police officers will detain them because of their immigration status.

Last week, the New Jersey office of the American Civil Liberties Union also praised the county for the policy change.

Officials noted that Ocean and Middlesex counties also modified their policies and are only honoring ICE requests for immigrants facing certain crimes.

Union County Manager Alfred Faella said he will recommend the change to the New Jersey Association of Counties.